Sometimes, dealing with corporations is like dealing with a black box. You have no idea whom to approach if you have things that you want to change, or if you want to resolve a complaint. And in many cases, where the company has no good policies on how to deal with consumers and their rights, it gets even more difficult. This is the reason why we have consumer courts, so that there is a forum where the rights of customers can be protected, and companies that default on this aspect can be fined. So here’s an example from Gujarat where the consumer in this case, a user of a cell phone was charged Rs. 50 extra. He fought this with the cell phone company and finally got a victory in his favour with the cell phone company being forced to refund the charges and pay additional for fees and other charges:

A mobile service provider that deducted Rs 50 from the prepaid account holder Jignesh Darji, without intimation, was penalised by the Vadodara consumer court. The court asked the service provider to pay Darji the Rs 50 along with nine per cent interest and compensation for mental agony. The total sum to be paid to Darji now amounts to Rs 8,550.
Darji had bought a pre-paid card of the Idea Cellular Company and recharged the coupon regularly. On September 29, 2003, Darji recharged the prepaid coupon worth Rs 325. But the next day the company deducted Rs 50 from the coupon without intimating the card holder.
But the assurance never materialised after which Darji went to Jaagrut Nagrik, a consumer protection organisation, seeking legal aid. Jaagrut Nagrik filed a complaint at the consumer court on behalf of Darji.

This is yet another instance of the rights of a customer getting protected at consumer court. These are an effective medium to haul companies up if you feel that your rights have been violated and the company is not taking the required steps to get you your rights.